Reminiscing.

I'm not crazy about most of my pre-raw photo days, but I will always love this shot. He's just my favorite subject, let's be honest.

Since I've started school [and correspondingly gotten every second of free time stripped from me quicker than I even half expected], this man has all but taken over kitchen-clean-up-duty, talked through math problems with me, gotten excited over every good grade, been my own personal picker-upper, patiently listened to my complaints of exhaustion and has been willing and ready to work around my schedule to make things easier on me. It's something special to be so connected with someone that when one of you needs help the other can step in without even being asked. He gets me completely inside and out and good GRIEF am I thankful he does.

I literally don't know what I would do without him at this point. I love him to the moon and back.

A breath of fresh air.

Sometimes in this life, things get way busier than you expected. Sometimes you spend an entire week just going and by the time Saturday rolls around you don't even know what just happened. Sometimes you feel like you literally don't even have a single second to yourself for peace or quiet. Sometimes you start to really miss those days before work, and school of sleeping in every morning with the boy and lounging the day away with him. Sometimes even sleep starts to feel like work.

You know how people say to take time to stop and smell the roses? Well, I've decided that pictures like this one, are my roses. After a week like I just had, I pull up a shot like this, and I suddenly feel refreshed. I feel like I can handle it all, because sometimes in the midst of all the exhaustion, certain shots just work out. You pull them up and the colors are bright and the subject is centered and you realize it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay because this shot, came out exactly like you pictured it in your head. Hey, maybe life isn't quite as hard as you're making it out to be.

What's your breath of fresh air?

Straight out of the studio.

Just kidding. I don't have a studio. But seriously how perfect is this light??

I've been holding all my free shoots in downtown Chandler because it seems to be pretty central and there is just so many photo ops in such a tiny square area. It's worked out really well. These two, because of a minor scheduling conflict I ended up shooting in almost mid-day sun. As it turns out, that's not always a bad thing! It was actually kind of fun being able to get all up in their stuff and shoot with some studio-esque lighting.

Their gorgeous eyes and flawless skin and perfect teeth [I could keep going!] sure didn't hurt either. I mean, let's be real.



By the way, remember how my keys almost [did] got [get] stolen the other day [until I stole them back]? Well apparently I didn't learn my lesson, and on this shoot some kids snatched $30 out of poor Taylor's purse [the hot brunette].

After chasing the thieves up and down four plus levels of a parking garage and hopping railings and filing police reports, you better believe those flushed cheeks are for real!

Noblushwasreappliedinthemakingofthisphotoshoot.





Anyways. I really need a fanny pack.

I've been having a love affair with black and white.

Maybe you've noticed... I've been posting a lot of black and white as of late. Do you want to know why? It's not because I don't like color. In fact lately, I've finally been getting the kind of color in my photography that I've been looking for and I've been pretty happy with the results! It's just that I finish brightening up favorite shots like this one...


...and I'm happy! His skin is perfect baby pink, the whites are bright, but contrast well with his and his mama's dark hair...I'm just happy, in general. I'm perfectly content with the outcome.

And then I turn it black and white.

BAM. All the sudden little Ronan is a child model from the fifties, he can play outside after dark and walk to the grocery store for his mama from five years old because the world is just that safe and every picture taken turns out flawless in its flat contrast and perfect imperfections.

Maybe I'm just a photographer stuck in the wrong era.

Anyway. Remember this kid and his gorgeous mama? Those eyes.

Guys. This girls laugh is infectious.

Hi! Meet Brooke and Cory. AKA: The Cutest Couple In The World.

I'm not kidding when I say these two just never stop laughing.  They obviously adore each other.  And I adore them. It's like some weird laughing love triangle when we're together. (Right now they're probably cringing in their computer chairs and making a mental note to never be within five square miles of me again.) It's cool.

Do you want a side story with today's post?

So this morning, I'm busy taking pictures of these two. This picture, in fact.
(Bonus preview! You're welcome.)

As I'm shooting, I set my keys and my lens cap down on the ground just a few yards away. And I snap snap snap away. We're setting up the perfect shot when these two boys walk by, young, no more than 10 years old. We laugh a little because apparently posing in front of an audience is not Cory's thing, but we don't think much of it and carry on our merry ways. Snap snap snap. Snap snap snap.  I finally get the perfect angle and am satisfied, so I walk on a bit and reach down to grab my keys and my lens cap. There's the lens cap - but no keys. We search high and low. Did I set them on the wall? Did I leave them at the last location? My mind was reeling wondering what I would've done with them, but inside I KNOW I wouldn't have put them anywhere but right next to my lens cap. It's just what I do. Finally, Brooke wonders out loud about those two boys who had walked by earlier. Since that seems to be the only possibility left, we look up the street to see if we can find them. For whatever reason, they seem to be walking back this way, lingering up toward the parking lot a ways off. We told Cory to puff up his chest and we all walk towards them. Once we reach them, we asked if they had seen some keys laying on the ground when they walked by earlier. I think they were trying to pretend like they didn't understand, but sure enough, I look down and one of them has his fist balled up around a keychain and there's my teale Sharpie sticking out between his fingers. He didn't put up much of a fuss, really. I grabbed them straight out of his hands and he nervously explained he "had a keychain that looked just like that one..." Right.

Moral of the story? When I show up to your photoshoot wearing a fanny pack, don't laugh too hard. It's for good reason!

Rocklyn.

Does anyone else feel like a complete bad-ass if they end up with anything more than this on first birthday shoots??  Sometimes I just want to grab these little people by the shoulders and tell them to slow down!  Life gets busy enough all on it's own.

I think I've narrowed it down.

I've decided that mostly, what I need to learn is that not everything works out.  I am the most extreme self critic to ever walk the face of this earth.  Anything less than perfect is hard for me to be proud of.  Maybe sometimes - just sometimes - I need to put down the finger of judgement and just be okay with that imperfection.

Three cheers for muted colors and filthy hair!

I mean, really.

Could these two be any cuter?  Most of the reasoning behind me offering {FREE} photography sessions this month was to get practice.  I wanted to make sure I was learning something new on every single shoot.  When these cute sisters showed up in their skinnies and open flannels I got so intimidated I barely got any of the shots I wanted - but I did come away with one lesson learned!  Clearly, I need to set up more shoots with my own sister.  Sisters, are obviously, the cutest.

Or maybe it's just these sisters...but a girl can dream.



Thanks girls! You rocked it.

Opening my eyes.

It's fun to come to a point in life where you realize that you alone are responsible for yourself.  When you don't pick yourself to pieces every time you find yourself alone.  When you don't worry as much about what other people think about your work as much as doing what you feel like will bring you happiness in life.  Growing older has it's ups and downs, but when I turned 24 last month I looked in the mirror and decided it wasn't so bad.

And it's not at all that I'm perfectly happy with myself - it's more that I look back on the disappointed girl I have been in the past and I'm just content with the fact that I've moved forward.

These days I don't loathe every quiet moment.  I don't crave the grandiose anymore.  In fact, these days the nights Levi and I decide to stay home, cuddle up and do nothing are often the ones I enjoy the most!  Life get's too crazy all on it's own without us filling silences and ruining every moment void of activity with more expectation and degradation of our own self-worth's.

I think everyone needs to decide at some point that they own their life.



For those of you that are just as hard on yourselves as I am, remember that owning your life means that you are responsible for the good things that happen just as much as the bad.  Stop beating yourself up and take a minute to appreciate the fact that you're still alive - and that alone is something to be proud of!

Can all of 2014 be this perfect?

Met these two for a little {FREE} photoshoot in downtown Chandler last night...  Literally could not have been a more fulfilling first for the year!  My heart is slowly melting into a puddle on the floor as I scroll through these looks of pure joy. It's so obvious, how these two just simply adore each other. It will be so fun to watch this little guy grow older and see their bond grow!

More soon!
 

I'm not big on resolutions.

I mean I can't even keep my hair the same color from month to month!  Who knows if what I want now is what I'll want then?  I think I'm just too much of a drifter for long term planning.  In the past I've set the normal lofty yearly goals, (1. Get married and have three babies, 2. Cook a healthy meal six days a week, 3. Get tan)  and in the end, either a month later I realize that I don't really want three babies, or at the end of the year I sit down with my list and hate myself a little more because I ate out regularly two (or three or four) times a week and I'm still white as white can be.  It's discouraging and I've really grown to loathe the tradition.  However.  I have been sick sick sick for the last three days and today I finally woke up feeling better.  The house has been a wreck for a week, but we either had a visit from Giselle or my super-amazing boyfriend stayed up late last night to get this place sparkling again.  And, this blog that I've been contemplating little details on for the last month has finally reached a point that I feel okay about sharing with you.

All in all, it's a pretty perfect day for a fresh start.  Makes it just feel wrong to not make some kind of a start-the-year-out-on-the-right-foot kind of list.  So although this year I don't resolve a damn thing...

I do plan on smiling a little more.  And I think I'll try talking to strangers more regularly - see if I can build up some potential friendships.  I'm going to give Levi less of a hard time, and I'm going to express my gratitude to those that love me more fully.  I'm just going to be better, be happier, and make sure I keep moving forward in this life that I've grown to love so fully.

And eat more vegetables, and read more books, and take more pictures and blog consistently - but you didn't hear that from me!